Community Impact

In partnership with the International Center for Research on Women and our local programme partners, Women Win developed a tool for assessing the impact of sport programmes on parents and caregivers, using an open-ended interview/questionnaire. The questionnaire helps assess, from the perspective of the parents/caregivers, how or if the behaviours, condition, knowledge, or status of their daughters changed as a result of their involvement in a sport programme. The themes/issues touched upon in the interview are sport, leadership, economic empowerment, sexual and reproductive health and rights, and gender-based violence.

Sport and life skills programmes can lead to positive changes in the families and communities of girls who participate. Therefore, it can be extremely valuable to engage with community members when trying to understand the impact of a programme. Conducting monitoring and evaluation with the community can provide insight, both into the changes that have occurred in the girls as well as how community members’ attitudes have shifted regarding the perception of girls and women as athletes and leaders.

In 2015, several organsiations conducted community impact assessments with parents and guardians of girls in their sports programmes. The purpose of conducting these interviews was to capture whether parents perceived any changes in their daughter’s knowledge, attitude and behaviour following her involvement in sports and life skills programmes. It also aimed to identify if there have been any changes to the girl’s condition or status, both within the family and the broader community.

In total, 217 parents and guardians completed the interviews. The majority of parents interviewed were mothers and female guardians (77%). Highlights of the quantitative findings include:

85% of parents/guardians feel that since participating in the programme, their daughter is more capable of making important decisions about her life.

96% of parents/guardians agree that they trust and listen to their daughter more than they did before she participated in the programme.

67% of parents/guardians had discussed women’s rights issues or the topic of violence against women with their daughters.

The interviews also included a qualitative component, where parents and guardians were asked to provide more detail about specific changes they had observed in their daughters. The following quotes are taken from the community impact report (attached below) from BRAC in Bangladesh.

“Violence against women is something no one wants to talk about. Our girls do not learn anything about it from their schools. Thanks to the programme, my daughter and her friends are at least aware of this topic. They now go around educating other girls and women in the community about their rights.”

“Nowadays whenever we have to make an important decision as a family, my daughter expresses her opinion, and we listen. She has really changed and grown over the past year. There have been many early marriages in our family, but my daughter has said no to this. She knows better now. She is determined to finish her studies and have a career for herself.”

“I am glad I kept my daughter in the programme. When she joined I heard a lot of negative comments from people in our village. Now these same people praise her. She has become an active member of the community, and is trying to make a difference in the lives of others, especially young girls. People here used to say girls should not play sports, but now they have changed their mind after seeing all the good work my daughter and her friends are doing for the community.”

Interestingly these community impact assessments have taught us more about how change occurs in communities. It seems that most of the improved parent’s perception of their daughters as leaders results more from observing and experiencing changes in the girls themselves (“multiplier effect”) rather than from outreach activities and events conducted by the organisation.